Shipping pallet

ABSTRACT

A pallet having a supporting plane for drums or cylinders in closest packed arrangement between two parallel sides and a spacer, connected to the plane, providing room beneath the supporting plane to insert fork lift fingers. The supporting plane has a plane outline definable by a first and second zone on opposite sides of a midline between two parallel sides with a distance between the sides of less than two drum diameters. The first zone has a length according to the number of drum diameters it supports. The second zone has a length according to the number of drum diameters, which may be one less than for the first zone, it supports. For a distance equal to a drum radius, the length of the second zone does not coextend with the length of the first zone. Where the second zone supports one less drum, the noncoextending length is at both ends of the second zone.

United States Patent 1191 Phelps 1451 Jan. 16, 1973 541 SHIPPING PALLET2,803,363 8/1957 Hutchinson ..10s/5s x [75] Inventor: M01 MeredithPhelps, Wilmington, GN PATENTS OR C O S Del. 477,917 2/1928 Germany..108/64 [73] Ass1gnee: E. l. du Pont de Nemours 8: Co.,

wilmmgton, 1361- Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay [22] Filed; Sept 4, 1970Assistant Examiner-Glenn O. Finch Attorney-John R. Powell [211 Appl.No.: 69,557

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl ..108/5l A pallet having a supporting planefor drums or cylin- [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 19/00 ders in closest packedarrangement between two- [58] Field of Search ..108/51-58, 60-65;parallel sides and a spacer, connected to the plane, 206/46; 214/621providing room beneath the supporting plane to insert fork lift fingers.The supporting plane has a plane out- [56] References Cited linedefinable by a first and second zone on opposite sides of a midlinebetween two parallel sides with a UNITED STATES PATENTS distance betweenthe sides of less than two drum 1,086,800 2 1914 Albano ..108/63diameters- The first has a length according the 2,040,432 5/1936 DiemanI I "log/64 number of drum diameters it supports. The second 3,053,5989/1962 Cheslow ..108/64 Zone has a length according to the number ofdrum 2 5 4 762 2 1952 vossenberg og 52 X diameters, which may be oneless than for the first 3,329,103 7/1969 Cohen ..108/54 z i supp F r adis an qua to a drum 2,764,377 9/1956 Schoenecker ..108/54 radius, thelength of the second zone does not coex- 3,187,690 6/1965 Desbois..108/58 tend with the length of the first zone. Where the 3,285,20411/1966 Schweitzer, Jr. ..l08/55 econd zone supports one less drum, thenoncoextend- 3,472,363 10/1969 Rustin. 6t

ing length is at both ends of the second zone. 7& l Y k'::;;:':":'.':.'r.'.: 3,563,184 2/1971 Angelbeck, Jr. ..'...108/53 10Claims, 6 Drawing Figures I 1 1'. I 2 I -2 l I 1 l I 1 I1 I I 1 l l l I3 -3 I l l I l I 1 PATENTEDJAN 16 I975 INVENTOR H0 MEREDITH PHELPS BY MAiWZ (V SHIPPING PALLET BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cylindrical drumsare widely used by the chemical and petroleum industries for the storageof chemical products. These drums are normally stored on their endspending their sale, delivery or use by customers of the products.

For convenience such drums are placed in square or rectangular groups onsquare or rectangular pallets. Common pallets for this use have at leastone supporting deck connected to supporting beams and are provided withspace into which lifting fingers of forklift carriers can be inserted.The drums with the pallets are moved by forklift, rather than by manuallabor.

Loaded pallets are shipped with the inefficient use of carrier space. Ausual mode of transportation, such as a truck or trailer, often has aninterior width which is not quite enough to accommodate more than onepallet across the width of the interior. The alternate ways a carriercan handle this problem are undesirable.

On one hand, the pallets may be loaded with but one pallet across thefloor width of the carrier space. Though the loaded pallets may bestacked, this is an inefficient use of available space. On the otherhand, all the available floor space can be used if drums from palletsare manually loaded, but the advantage of floor space use is offset bythe impracticality of stacking the drums. In addition, the manualhandling of drums is undesirable as an inefficient use of manpower andis a safety hazard to manpower.

Pallets of the prior art, normally of the square configuration, arestored in a warehouse back-to-back in an alignment squarely across openpassageways provided for forklift trucks which handle these pallets. Itis necessary for forklift trucks to swing to an alignment across an openpassageway so that they can effectively engage or disengage forkliftfingers. Passageways must be wide enough to allow for more than a fullturning swing of the forklift truck so that the truck can move itspallet load without interference from adjacent stored pallets. The widthrequired for a full turning swing represents lost valuable floor spacefor storing pallets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Shipping pallets for carrying an even number Nof drums or cylinders comprising a supporting plane having at least twosides, approximately parallel and coextensive support spacers attachedto the lower surface of the supporting plane to support and space thesupporting plane for lifting with a forklift, the supporting plane canbe considered to be comprised of a planform comprised of two smallerplanforms defined as one-half the area of the larger planform that lieson either side of a midline drawn parallel to and between the supportspacers such that the smaller planforms have length L along the midlineand width W between the midline and the edge along which the supportspacer extends can be improved by narrowing the width of each smallerplanform to 93.75 percent W and shifting one of the planforms along themidline of the large planform so that the support spacersare no longercoextensive whereby the planform area is reduced for the same evennumber of drums. An odd number of drums (N+1 )can be accommodated if oneof the smaller planforms is made longer than the other.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Pallets of this invention have a plane forsupportingn cylindrical bodies on their ends, n being an integerexceeding one, the cylindrical bodies having a radius r. They maysupport spatial equivalents of these cylindrical bodies.

These pallets are intended to support cylindrical bodies of radius ralong two rows in their closest packing arrangement between two parallellines of a support plane. That closest packing arrangement is one inwhich every cylindrical body of one row is positioned against each oftwo adjacent cylindrical bodies in the next row. Cylindrical bodies soarranged along the extent of two parallel lines require these parallellines to be only (2+ VT) r or 3.732 r wide. For practical considerations3.75 r is considered a suitable width of two rows of cylindrical bodiesin this kind of contact.

Cylindrical bodies arranged in this fashion will have a number ofcontacts with adjacent bodies which corresponds to the formula 2n-3where n is the number of bodies.

The general outline of the supporting plane is according to its intendedsupport of an even or odd number of cylinders. For the support of aneven number of cylinders the planform is a staggered form such as wouldresult from sliding one-half a rectangle for a distance r along abisection line which extends in a direction parallel to one side of therectangle. The resulting planform and a similar planform can be ininterfitted alignment when a bisection line of each planform is broughtclose to the other. The supporting plane is provided with two parallelspacing beams which keep the supporting plane away from a surface onwhich the pallet may be placed.

In the support of an odd number of cylinders the outline is a tee formsupporting one more cylinder on the cross head of the tee than on thebase of the tee.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of FIG. 1 taken along line 22.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of FIG. 1 taken along line 3--3.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1 havingmodified comers and having drums of cylinders shown thereon.

FIG. 5 shows a further modification of the corners on the preferredembodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 shows an alternate embodiment of this invention for the supportof an odd number of cylinders.

The pallet in FIG. 1 consists of deck 1 and deck 7 connected to sidesupporting spacers 4 and 6 and to intermediate supporting spacer 5. Eachof spacers 4 and 6 has the length nr, and these spacers areperpendicularly coextensive over a distance r-(n-l). FIG. 1 as shown inFIG. 4 is for four cylinders of radius r, so spacers 4 and 6 each has alength 4r and both are coextensive over 3r. Spacer 5 is coextensive withboth spacers 4 and 6 to points across from their ends. Spacers 4 and 6have a height sufficient to provide an opening for forklift fingers andthey are spaced apart so that with the deck on them the pallet has awidth W of less than 4r, preferably about 3.75:. Spacer 5 is positionedon the planform so that the average width of deck above it beyond wherespacers 4 and 6 are coextensive, shown as U and based on a straightintermediate beam, is no more than half of W. Maintaining U at no largera dimension allows the pallet to interfit with a similar pallet at itsend.

Spacers 4, 5 and 6 may have any desired structure so long as theyprovide spacing beneath a deck for forklift carrying. They may havesufficient strength to stiffen the decks where the decks haveinsufficient strength in themselves to be load supports. Spacer 5 isoptional in that its use will depend on the strength of the deckmaterial. They may be simple extended blocks of rectangular crosssection, may be U-beams, may be I- beams or may be built up trusses.They can have any composition meeting their load carrying requirements,e.g., wood, metal, or plastic. The preferred composition structure iswood in a rectangular cross section.

Decks 1 and 7 complete the support plane for loads to be carried by thepallet. They complete the plan outline dimensions as already given. Theymay be between spacers 4 and 6 in a manner such that their supportsurface is in a common plane with these spacers. They may cover thewhole plan outline, with spacers 4 and 6 being flush with the planoutline, or the decks may project beyond spacers 4 and 6.

Decks may be fabricated of any suitable material, such as metal, wood orplastic. They may be each in one piece or in multiple pieces extendingacross the spacers or connecting the spacers. As wood, the preferredmaterial, they may be plywood or a series of wood slate across thespacers.

It is not necessary in all cases to have two decks, since necessarysupport of a load by the pallet may be provided by spacers 4, 5 and 6during ground storage and by forklift fingers under a deck duringhandling of the pallet. In such a case space should be available betweenthe spacers and below the deck for the insertion of forklift fingers.The two deck structure is a preferred structure because it more easilyprovides a rigid box-like structure and because it is more convenientlyuseful to stack loaded pallets one above the other. Of course, spacereceptive of forklift fingers should also exist in the two deckstructure.

The decks, as many as are used, can be secured to the spacers in anyfashion which produces the necessary load supporting capability.Adhesives, welds, rivets, nails or even staples are useful according tothe composition of the spacersand deck and to the load to be supported.

It may be seen from these disclosures that the plan outline of FIG. 1can be extended so that two more cylindrical columns of radius r can beaccommodated for each extension of twice the radius r of these columns.

The plan outline of these pallets enables their storage alongpassageways in storage facilities in a more efficient fashion. Thenotched part of the plan outline allows these pallets to be stored alongpassageways at an angle of 25 to 35, preferably at 30, from an alignmentsquarely across the passageway. Pallets so angled along the passagewayrequire a lesser amount of swing from the passageway into engagement orfrom disengagement with them by a forklift truck. The narrowerpassageway for forklift truck operation, produces added available palletstorage floor space.

FIG. 4 shows an alternate pallet embodiment of this invention. Thisembodiment shows how four cylinders of maximum radius r are mounted onthis pallet to best advantage for its use in shipping. The plan outlineof this pallet modifies the pallet of FIG. 1 in that it excludes thetriangular segments on selected corners of the planform. One side ofeach triangular segment is tangent to the curve of the supportedcylinder base of radius r, and the long sides of nearby triangles shownare on a common line. The natural angle of that com mon line back acrossthe pallet from the square end of the pallet is 30 for cylinders intriangular arrangement. The natural starting point of that line is1.268r from the exterior comer of the narrow extension of the palletplanform. That line, extending across two nearby corners determinestriangles which can be removed from the pallet planform. Pallets of thisinvention with a support plane so modified in plan outline can beangularly stored between closer storage base lines for a more efficientuse of storage floor space.

Another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 5. Here theplan outline is curved around the intended base positions of drums F andG and inner arcs having the radius of radius r tangent to the intendedbase positions of drums F and G, and of these drums and tangent with theintended base positions of drums E and II, respectively. Continuingthese curves as shown around the intended base positions of drums E andH completes a plan outline having all the advantages ofinterfittability, shipping and storage which the pallet plane of FIG. 4provides.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of this invention for the support of threecylinders. This embodiment includes deck 12 of the plan outline shown tosupport cylinders A, B and C as shown. Along parallel edges it hasrectangular support spacers connected to the deck and providingclearance of the deck from a ground level so that forklift fingers areinsertable.

The plan outline of the deck of the pallet of FIG. 6 can, of course, bemodified as described above for FIGS. 4 and 5.

The pallets of this invention are stored at an angle of 60 from the lineof the path provided between them for passage of a forklift truck.Because forklift fingers need to be swung at anangle for insertion undera pallet deck less than the passage between rows of pallets can benarrower than those'used along rows of square pallets of the prior art.The distance between floor lines in which two of these pallets can bestored is the same as that for two of the prior art pallets. Pallets ofthe embodiment of FIG. 4 require even less distance between floor lines.

Pallets of this invention having the support plane of the necessary planoutline can easily be made from two open-ended rectangular boxesconnected in edge-toedge relation. Such boxes would have a deck portionless than 2 r wide, preferably 1.875 r wide, and a suitable space forinserting a forklift finger. A first box would have a lengthaccommodating at least one cylinder of radius r; the second box wouldhave a length accommodating the same number of cylinders or one morecylinder than the first box. Where the first and second boxes have equallengths, one is slipped along the other by a distance r. Where the boxesare unequal in length the second box will extend beyond the first box bya distance r at each end. In such a case the box edges where joined andwhere extended beyond being joined may be considered as a common beam.

The support plane and the spacers need not be separate elements. Suchelements may be integral in this pallet. For instance, a pallet canbe-made from sheet form metal bent into the rectangular form, therectangular forms being thereafter joined. Indeed a pallet can be madefrom a single sheet of metal bent in right angular figure-eight fashionso that edge portions of the sheet metal lap on the center cross of theright angle figure-eight to form an intermediate spacer or beam, whilethe outer crosses of the figure eight serve as outer spacers or supportbeams and the sides of the figure eight form the plane of the supportingdeck. In such a case, some of the plane will require trimming to adaptto this invention.

EXAMPLE 1 Pallet for 24-inch Diameter Drums A rectangular form of 45 by60 inches internal size was laid level. Two 2 by 4 inches hardwood sidebeams each 48 inches long were laid in the form against its long sides,their 4 inch dimension upright extending to diagonally opposite cornersin the form. Each side beam then had an interior end 12 inches from acorner of the form. A 2 by 4 inch intermediate beam 60 inches long waslaid in the form so that it was 22- /inches from each long side of theform at an interior beam end.

Hardwood l by 6 inch slats were nailed to and across all of thepositioned beams, being 45 inches long where the side beams coextbndedfor 36 inches and being not over22-linches long where they weresupported only by a side beam and the intermediate beam along 12 inchesof each side beam. Slats supported only by a side beam and theintermediate beam were trimmed off where they projected over the supportof the intermediate beam.

The nailed structure was removed from the form. Hardwood l X 6 inchslats were nailed on opposite sides of the beams incorrespondinglocations, length and trim. The resulting pallet had theplanform of a 45 X 60 inch rectangle having diagonally opposite notcheseach extending 22-95 inches along the 45 inch dimension along a line 12inches from an end of the 60 inch dimension and extending from thatpoint along the 60 inch dimension in a direction which makes the notchwider than 22% inches at the end of the rectangle. This planform iscapable of holding four 24 inch diameter drums in triangular arrangementwithout their extension beyond the 45 inch dimension. Pallets of thisplanform can be interfitted end-to-end.

Current domestic trucks and trailers are limited by the U.S. Departmentof Transportation to an external width of 96 inches. Necessary sidestructure limits the interior dimension available for storage to 91 to93 inches. The chemical industry standard pallet size for 55 gallondrums is 48 inches by 48 inches. Only one of these pallets could beloaded across the width of a truck or trailer.

A truck with transport space 92 inches wide and 40 feet long having onetier of standard pallets can accommodate l8 pallets. The same truckloaded with the exemplified pallet in one tier was able to accommodate36 pallets. In this case a 100 percent improvement in the efficiency ofuse of the truck resulted from the use of the examplified pallet. Manualtreatment of drums loaded on the pallets was unneeded at either theloading or unloading point of the truck.

EXAMPLE 2 The pallets of Example 1 were stored in a warehouse inend-to-end interfitted pairs along forklift truck passageways. Asstored, they were angled to 64 away from the passageway and were placedbetween passageways 8 feet apart. The passageways required a width ofonly 8 feet for forklift trucks to effectively swing these pallets intoand out of storage. In a 60 foot storage span five eight-footpassageways served four rows of end-to-end pallet pairs and two rows ofsingle pallets.

Normal four foot by four foot pallets are stored squarely acrossforklift passageways eight feet apart but the passageways must be twelvefeet wide to effectively swing the square pallets into and out ofstorage. Under these conditions a 60 foot storage span can provide onlythree rows of end-to end pallet pairs and two rows of single palletsserved by four twelve-foot passageways.

Under the above circumstances it can be seen that the use of pallets ofthis invention enables a 25 percent increase in efficiency of floorspace use for storage.

lclairn:

1. In a shipping pallet for carrying a number N or N+l of drums orcylinders comprising a supporting plane having at least two sides,approximately parallel and coextensive support spacers attached to thelower surface of the supporting plane such that a spacer extends alongeach of two sides of said lower surface of said supporting plane suchthat sufficient room exists beneath said lower surface to insertforklift fingers of a forklift truck, said supporting plane comprising aplan outline comprising first smaller and second smaller plan outlineshaving their lengths parallel to the length of said support spacers anda width (W) defined by the distance between the edge along which asupport spacer extends and the midline of said supporting plane drawnmidway between and approximately parallel to said support spacers, theimprovement comprising a reduced smaller plan outline width for eachsmaller plan of about 93.75 percent W and wherein the first smaller planoutline is located relative to the second smaller plan outline such thatthe supporting spacer of the first smaller plan outline is notcoextensive with the supporting spacer of said second smaller planoutline whereby the plan outline area is reduced for a given number ofdrums or cylinders.

2. The improved shipping pallet of claim 1 in which said first smallerplan outline has a length equal to that of said second smaller planoutline and the number of drums or cylinders is N.

3. The improved shipping pallet of claim 1 in which said first smallerplan outline is longer than said second smaller plan outline and thenumber of drums or cylinders is N l.

4. An improved pallet of claim 1 for carrying on their ends a pluralityof cylindrical bodies of radius r, in the closest packing arrangement oftwo rows possible between two parallel sides, in which (a) the planoutline has a first and second zone on opposite sides of the midline,(b) the length of each zone is an even multiple of r, (c) the zones arecoextensive except for a distance equal to r at each end of the planoutline, and (c) the width W is about 3.75 r.

5. A shipping pallet of claim 4 for carrying four cylindrical bodies, inwhich the first and second zones each have a length of 4 r.

6. A shipping pallet of claim 4 for carrying three cylindrical bodies,in which the first zone has a length of 4 r and the second zone has alength of 2 r.

7. A shipping pallet for supporting two rows of cylindrical bodies ofradius r in their closest packing arrangement between two parallel linesof a support plane, which pallet comprises a. a plane for supporting ncylindrical bodies of radius r, n being an even integer, said planehaving i. parallel opposite sides,

ii. a width of 3.75 r between the two parallel sides,

and

iii. a planform such as would result from sliding half of a rectanglefor a distance of r along a bisection line between said parallel sidesthus forming two zones, a first zone on one side of the bisection lineand a second zone on the opposite side of the bisection line, and

b. parallel spacing beams for keeping supporting plane (a) away from asurface.

8. A shipping pallet of claim 7 for carrying four cylindrical bodies ofradius r on end, wherein the first and second zones of the pallet eachhave a length of 4 r.

9. A shipping pallet for supporting two rows of cylindrical bodies ofradius r in their closet packing arrangement between two parallel linesof a support plane, which pallet comprises a. a plane for supporting itcylindrical bodies of radius r, n being an odd integer greater than one,

said plane having i. parallel opposite sides,

ii. a width of 3.75 r between the two parallel sides,

and

iii. a planform whose outline is a tee form supporting one more cylinderon the cross-head of the tee than on the base of the tee, and

b. parallel spacing beams for keeping supporting plane (a) away from asurface.

10. A shipping pallet of claim 9 for carrying three cylindrical bodiesof radius r on end, wherein the crosshead of the tee has a length of 4 rand the base of the tee has a length of 2 r.

1. In a shipping pallet for carrying a number N or N+1 of drums orcylinders comprising a supporting plane having at least two sides,approximately parallel and coextensive support spacers attached to thelower surface of the supporting plane such that a spacer extends alongeach of two sides of said lower surface of said supporting plane suchthat sufficient room exists beneath said lower surface to insertforklift fingers of a forklift truck, said supporting plane comprising aplan outline comprising first smaller and second smaller plan outlineshaving their lengths parallel to the length of said support spacers anda width (W) defined by the distance between the edge along which asupport spacer extends and the midline of said supporting plane drawnmidway between and approximately parallel to said support spacers, theimprovement comprising a reduced smaller plan outline width for eachsmaller plan of about 93.75 percent W and wherein the first smaller planoutline is located relative to the second smaller plan outline such thatthe supporting spacer of the first smaller plan outline is notcoextensive with the supporting spacer of said second smaller planoutline whereby the plan outline area is reduced for a given number ofdrums or cylinders.
 2. The improved shipping pallet of claim 1 in whichsaid first smaller plan outline has a length equal to that of saidsecond smaller plan outline and the number of drums or cylinders is N.3. The improved shipping pallet of claim 1 in which said first smallerplan outline is longer than said second smaller plan outline and thenumber of drums or cylinders is N +
 1. 4. An improved pallet of claim 1for carrying on their ends a plurality of cylindrical bodies of radiusr, in the closest packing arrangement of two rows possible between twoparallel sides, in which (a) the plan outline has a first and secondzone on opposite sides of the midline, (b) the length of each zone is aneven multiple of r, (c) the zones are coextensive except for a distanceequal to r at each end of the plan outline, and (c) the width W is about3.75 r.
 5. A shipping pallet of claim 4 for carrying four cylindricalbodies, in which the first and second zones each have a length of 4 r.6. A shipping pallet of claim 4 for carrying three cylindrical bodies,in which the first zone has a length of 4 r and the second zone has alength of 2 r.
 7. A shipping pallet for supporting two rows ofcylindrical bodies of radius r in their closest packing arrangementbetween two parallel lines of a support plane, which pallet comprises a.a plane for supporting n cylindrical bodies of radius r, n being an eveninteger, said plane having i. parallel opposite sides, ii. a width of3.75 r between the two parallel sides, and iii. a planform such as wouldresult from sliding half of a rectangle for a distance of r along abisection line between said parallel sides thus forming two zones, afirst zone on one side of the bisection line and a second zone on theopposite side of the bisection line, and b. parallel spacing beams forkeeping supporting plane (a) away from a surface.
 8. A shipping palletof claim 7 for carrying four cylindrical bodies of radius r on end,wherein the first and second zones of the pallet each have a length of 4r.
 9. A shipping pallet for supporting two rows of cylindrical bodies ofradius r in their closet packing arrangement between two parallel linesof a support plane, which pallet comprises a. a plane for supporting ncylindrical bodies of radius r, n being an odd integer greater than one,said plane having i. parallel opposite sides, ii. a width of 3.75 rbetween the two parallel sides, and iii. a planform whose outline is atee form supporting one morE cylinder on the cross-head of the tee thanon the base of the tee, and b. parallel spacing beams for keepingsupporting plane (a) away from a surface.
 10. A shipping pallet of claim9 for carrying three cylindrical bodies of radius r on end, wherein thecross-head of the tee has a length of 4 r and the base of the tee has alength of 2 r.